New Chrome extension Dmail brings self-destructing messages to Gmail

Following Gmail's release of the "Undo Send" option last month, Google now also allows users to delete sent emails.

Through its new Chrome extension called Dmail, users will be able to use a self-destruct option, which deletes sent mails after a stipulated period of time.

By installing the Chrome extension, users will be able to set automated timers to destroy a sent mail. This also means that after doing so, the recipients' access to the email will be revoked and they will receive an email saying that the message will self destruct, also stipulating the time set by the sender.

This service, however, does not physically delete emails on the recipient's side. Users who send emails via Dmail will have their messages encrypted and then decrypted on the recipient's side. However, if a sender wants to revoke access to a sent email at a later time, the email gets encrypted by a 256-bit encryption algorithm and the recipient gets a "message unavailable" prompt.

"Neither Gmail nor Dmail servers ever receive both the decryption key and encrypted message. Only the recipient and sender can read the email legibly," Dmail product lead Eric Kuhn said.